Rockdoor is also part of one of the UK’s largest home improvement stockiest, General All Purpose Plastics (GAP). GAP has been supplying both the domestic and commercial building market with maintenance free building products from 26 depots the length and breadth of Britain. Organizational culture is what my organizations views, skills and values are that hold it together, how it expresses itself and how it conducts itself not only from the inside but also from the outside of the organization.
It includes all the written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time. It is shown in the way that the organization carries out its duties, treats its employees, customers and the community. How the information flows and how committed my employees are towards each objective. It has been pivotal in helping me better myself and also many members of staff due to undergoing internal and external courses such as the Business Improvement Techniques level 2, which is not only a massive gain for any individual but also for the company.
I think that the culture has changed massively from when I started with the company over 6 years ago. It was a very negative place to work, no one really knew what was expected of them and the whole factory was a bomb site. Since 2010 when 18 members of staff got involved in the business improvement techniques course, I think it had opened everybody’s eyes and gave them an insight in to how a manufacturing plant should have been run. 1. 2 Firstly organizational specific is how the business has an impact on my leadership style.
I like to think that I am a democratic style leader while the majority of big organizations out there have or take an autocratic style approach to leadership. It also varies on the demand of the business at certain times, this means that I must try to adapt my leadership style to all the different problems that may occur within the business. Organizational legal is all the written rules that have been developed inside and outside of the organization. For example things like the working time directive that effects how we put employees on shifts, health and safety, etc.
If you as a leader are willing to follow the health and safety rules within the company, that will then install trust within the organization and will allow employees to act and work in a safe manor. These are all types of situations where I MUST take an autocratic style of leadership or it could result in being very damaging for all parties concerned including the business. One of the organizational regulatory requirements is the type of things like the building regulations that certain commercial customers require.
To achieve this we must have been BSI certificated so that we can meet building requirements. We have also had our doors tested to PAS 23 and PAS 24 which is a police backed initiative, as well as the BSI certificate PAS 23 and PAS 24 is another requirement that the majority of commercial and domestic companies require to meet their specification. Ethical requirements are the equal opportunities act. Equal opportunities and discrimination can relate to many different relationships within the organization.
This act means that there must not be any discrimination against anyone whether it is anything to do with his or her gender, marital status, race, age, religion, disability, sexual preference or whether he or she is under full time employment with the company. 1. 3 The major social concern that will impact us the most as a business is the ‘Drivers CPC’ that will be coming in to place as of September 2014. The driver CPC is a compulsory requirement that has been introduced across Europe so that lorry drivers maintain high driving standards, skills and road safety.
This means that all the drivers we employ as a business will need to complete a minimum of 35 hours training every 5 years. This will only apply to a weight limit of 7. 5 ton upwards. As you can probably imagine this will not be an inexpensive process and will amount to a significant amount of cost, especially when we employ over 25 drivers. Moving forward we have decided that we will put the arctic drivers through their training and that we will be replacing all our 7. 5 ton wagons with 3. 5 ton wagons. Another social concern is the rise in inflation.
Over the last 6 years it is estimated that inflation has risen to over 15 percent, however the wage structure has not. This is a major concern especially when it comes down to getting the most out of your employees. They will be deflated and they will feel as if they are being unfairly treated to some extent. Another key factor why this will have a massive effect on me as a leader is people being off sick. People cannot afford to have days off so they will force themselves to come in to work, this will then lead to poor production output and even the possibility that more employees will catch something and fall ill. I think that there is quite a big difference between being a leader and being a manager, although both leaders and managers set out to accomplish the company’s goals and objectives. Both roles play a big part in building strong teams and work well together, also good managers will have good leaders under them and visa versa. There are quite a few noticeable differences that stand out between managers and leaders. When managers ask or instruct their staff to do something the staff will do it because of the structure that has been set by the organization.
When it comes to accomplishing a task, a manager tells those under them what to do, whether the certain individual will agree or disagree. They tend to have a different view as well of thinking that those beneath them are actually less important and are just there to do a job. A manager is more focused on the task or objective rather than the needs of his or her staff. Leaders will tell or ask staff to do something and they will do it out of respect. Many times you will find that leaders will have members of staff doing things that they never asked them to do and going that extra mile.
They will also rise to the top very quickly and are viewed by others as the person that is not afraid to get his or her hands dirty to get the job done. 2. 2 There are many forms of leadership styles, based on Kurt Lewin’s models from the 1940’s there are three major traits, Autocratic, Democratic, and Laissez faire. First, autocratic leaders are best described as those who tend to give out orders to the employees and provide clear objectives for what needs to be achieved, when it should be done, and how long they have to do it.
The decisions are normally quick because there is no input from the rest of the team and they make decisions based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely take advice. There is a clear divide between the leader and the followers and will dictate working methods and processes to their team. The problems of relying too much on an autocratic style is that it can lead to poor quality because of the lack of input. Team morale can be low with leaders being viewed as bossy when they are unable to input their own ideas. This can result in high staff turnover as they will be unlikely to be felt as valued employees.
Secondly, democratic leaders have a more hands on approach to getting the task in hand completed, and also take on the employee’s thoughts and ideas. The leader allows the employees to take part in decision-making, therefore everything is agreed upon by the majority. The communication is bigger in both directions from employees and leaders. This style can be useful when decisions need to be made that require a range of skills. From the overall business’s point of view, job satisfaction and quality of work will improve. However, the decision-making process is severely slowed down, as it can go against a better choice of leadership.
Thirdly there is a Laissez-faire leadership style, the leader’s role is a hands off approach and staff manages their own areas of the company, the leader therefore can carry out their own duties of management and has more time on their hands. The style brings out the best in some individuals, although some members of the team may struggle without some sort of guidance. Very little communication occurs compared with other styles, which could lead to poor quality, no form of feedback that will in time lead to a low morale.
This leadership style can also be seen as being lazy. There are a number of different factors that will influence the style of leadership that I would apply within my team. To decide what style of leadership is most appropriate for the particular team, it is vital that I understand not only how my team is performing or even capable of performing but also the attitudes and personalities of the individuals that make up my team, whether it would be someone suffering from low self-esteem or someone that is very opinionated.
For example if I was dealing with someone who has personal issue’s or is having a hard time outside of the organisation I would apply a democratic style of leadership, if I had a member of staff who was very confident and I knew I could trust I would leave them to it and just adopt a Laissez-faire style of leadership. Finally if there is an individual that is very argumentative or someone that is very hard work I would apply an autocratic style of leadership.
I will tend to use a democratic style of leadership, because in my opinion I have found that this is the most affective style to get the best out of my staff. It makes them feel involved and that they have an input in decision making, it will gain respect and also raise morale. To ensure that all our staff is treated fairly and that they are performing efficiently we have set up a training matrix, this allows and gives each member of staff the chance to learn and develop themselves in each department of the factory.
Whilst the training matrix was set up we also introduced a grading system to run parallel with the training matrix. This means that if the individual member of staff is willing to learn more then they will get paid more. Keeping that in mind it must be clear that there are certain boundaries between myself and each member of my staff. I think that it is also very important that I conduct myself in a professional manor whilst I am not only at work but also outside the organization. To do this I have been given the chance o take part on a various course’s so that I am able to develop myself whilst employed by the organization, such as Lean Techniques and the CMI. I have also gained valuable experience from working closely with different styles of management, including the manufacturing manager, Logistics manager and the health and safety manager. It is vitally important that there is clear communication between myself and each member of staff. I will try to get everybody involved in tasks and objectives so that everybody is on the same page and fully understands what is needed.
To do this we have set up various continuous improvement teams around the factory. I think it is also very important that in some cases you can try to adopt into a psychological contract with a member of staff, which basically means you can offer something in return if a duty is carried out well and to a high standard. Lastly I think it must be very clear what you expect yourself and try to have some sort of game plan, because if you yourself are not sure what is needed then how can you expect anybody else to know. . s I mentioned in there must be clear communication at all times between me and my staff. Every Monday morning at 10am we carry out our weekly team brief. This enables us to communicate down any information that has not been shared in recent weeks, including a total number of doors completed, how many remakes that there has been and how many late doors there has been. It then gives everybody the chance to share their views and have their say on what they thought had gone wrong from the previous week.
It is also a chance to let all the employees know how they have performed and what is expected from them in the upcoming week. Every month we also send out a company newsletter that is pinned to all notice boards. This is so that all the employees can see where the company is as a whole. It lets them know who has recently started with the company, who has recently left the company, new depot openings and what they are hoping to achieve from the upcoming month, etc. This has only been started over the last six months or so and it has proven to be a massive success.
When the company newsletter was introduced we also introduced a suggestion box in every department. This gives people the opportunity to put any suggestions forward. This is ideal for staff that are not that confident in talking or putting a suggestion forward to management. This then means it is down to the individual whether or not they choose to put their name on the suggestion. Whilst that may seem a good idea for none confident staff, I think it must be very important that you adopt a ‘my doors always open’ style of leadership and try to encourage employees to bring their ideas forward.
If it is a good idea make sure that you let them know it’s a good idea so that they can then feel a sense of achievement. It will all depend on the changing needs of the company and what situation is taking place at that time. If there is a quality issue that needs resolving I think that you must implement an autocratic style of leadership, especially when standard documents are involved. It must be clear to everybody what standards are acceptable. The same again for any finance issues.
If you have a budget then you must stick to it, so the same will be needed again an autocratic style of leadership. If your demand is 100 doors with 50 staff and they tell you that you need to lose 10 staff but still supply 100 doors, it is how you would go about achieving that. For instance if they are allowing you to make these doors in plenty of time then you can use a democratic style or even a Laissez-faire style of leadership, but if time is not on your side then you must adopt an autocratic style of leadership. That will then mean that production output rises but quality will suffer.
